• by Ray Schultz , October 26, 2021

Employees are increasingly using apps to do their work, but many are feeling app fatigue, according to Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Tools Report 2021, a study by Setapp.  

Firms that force the use of apps on their email teams should take note of these findings.   

Of the workers polled in the U.S. and UK, over 60% use up to six apps on their work desktop/laptop each day. Apps are chosen from the company’s internal app store by 39%. 

However, 25% on both continents feel overwhelmed by the number of apps. 

As for systems, 65% in the U.S. and 75% in the U.K. use a Windows computer. In addition, 50% of their companies use Microsoft apps for team communication/collaboration.

At the same time, 34.54% of the respondents use one to three apps, versus 30.84% in the U.K. 

In addition, over 33% in each country utilize four to six. But 10.20% of U.S. workers use 11 or more apps, versus 8.38% in the U.K. 

Overall, 27.54 in the U.K. and 25.99% in the U.S. say their work app toolkit is updated annually, while almost 10% in the U.S. admit their apps are never updated. 

When installing apps, 49% use the apps pre-installed on their computer while 18% either purchase them on their own or use trial versions.   

Desktop applications dominate, with 62% in the U.S. and 72% in the U.K. preferring to use them more than web apps.  

Despite the app fatigue affecting a quarter of the employees polled, 66% overall are OK with the number of apps they have to utilize. 

As for their work schedules, 39% in the U.S. and 48% in the U.K. work in a hybrid model, combining in-off and remote work. About 27% overall work remotely all the time, and 20% only in the office. 

Setapp surveyed 304 participants from the U.S. and 334 from the U.K. in September.